1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a hand held tool, specifically to a universal tool used for harvesting fruit.
2. Description of prior art
Fruit may be harvested in one of two ways depending upon the final use of the crop: 1) Crops such as olives that will be used to make olive oil, nuts or similar crops are removed in the most economical way and allowed to fall to the ground. 2) In harvesting crops for edible fruit, however, the fruit cannot be allowed to fall to the ground as care must be taken not to damage or bruise the fruit.
1) Harvesting Olives for Olive Oil
Where the orchard arrangement, location, tree variety, etc. does not permit the use of shakers or other powered equipment hand harvesting with the aid of various tools is the method used. Olives may be hand picked into a container or allowed to fall into a tarp or similar device placed under the tree. Tools employed include long handled poles made from bamboo or other materials that are used to beat the branches causing the olives to fall to the ground. This process results in considerable damage to the tree. Another tool is a rake like device used in a raking motion to strip the olives from the branches. The rake device closely resembles a small standard garden rake with rigid tines spaced at a constant distance. It is made of a plastic material that breaks easily in use. Since various varieties of olives grow in different sizes the main problem is that the rake will not completely strip varieties smaller than the spacing of the tines. Also, being non-flexible the tines cannot deflect when pulled through the branches and tend to snag easily.
2) Harvesting for Edible Fruit
Fruit is hand picked and placed in a picking bag or container, not being allowed to fall to the ground where it would be damaged. Ladders are used up to about four meters which is considered the maximum safe harvesting height. The use of ladders can be hazardous particularly on sloping or rough terrain, with workers unskilled in the use of ladders, or unsafe ladders. Further, in larger trees much of the fruit is out of reach and cannot be harvested. An alternative is a harvesting tool mounted on a long pole that removes and captures the fruit in a container without damage. Such tools designed to harvest larger fruit are presently available on the market. This picker consists of a rigid wire container with relatively short, rigid wire tines located above the opening of the container. Tines and container are the same structure and cannot be separated. As the tines are too far apart for olives or other small fruit or nuts I have modified and tested this picker with more closely space tines. Test results show, however, that the size and shape of the tines and container and their relationship are such that a large percentage of the olives fall to the ground and are not collected in the basket.
Reference is made to three U.S. patents for an adjustable rake by Rienacker in U.S. Pat. No. 3,258,903, Durkee in U.S. Pat. No. 3,701,243 and Re. Pat. No. 28,764, and Henne in U.S. Pat. No. 3,394,536. Tine spacing adjustment is achieved in these patents with a handle having a guide secured to one end with a plurality of holes to slidingly receive a plurality of tines. The tines are secured at one end in a retainer that is slidably connected to the handle. Moving the retainer along the handle adjusts the tine spacing. The problem that is addressed here is in the attachment of the tines to the adapter. In the referenced patents as well as rakes currently on the market the tines are reasonably well retained longitudinally (in the long direction of the handle) and laterally (at 90 degrees to the handle). Rotationally, about the longitudinal axis, however, the tines are poorly retained with rotational looseness of up to 30 degrees being observed. Such looseness in the case of the rake is apparently not objectionable and has little effect on the function of the rake. For the long finger like shape of tine required for effective olive harvesting, however, such rotational looseness would result in uneven tine spacing and would adversely affect performance. The need or means for solving this problem are not suggested in this referenced prior art.
Objects and Advantages
It is a general object of this invention to provide a universal tool for harvesting fruit. Additional objects and advantages are:
a) To provide a harvesting tool that can be used to 1) strip the crop from the branches, allowing it to fall to the ground or 2) pick the crop for edible fruit with minimum damage. PA0 b) To provide a removable container that can be easily attached to capture the fruit as it is stripped from the branch. PA0 c) To provide a tool that is adjustable to effectively harvest fruits of different sizes and shapes. PA0 d) To provide a harvesting tool to which can be attached handles of various lengths allowing the fruit to be safely harvested from the ground without the need for a ladder. PA0 e) To provide a tool that will harvest a greater percentage of the crop at lower cost than existing methods with less damage to fruit and tree. PA0 f) To provide an improved tine attachment method that allows radial motion of tines for spacing adjustment while securing tines in the lateral, longitudinal, and rotational directions thus maintaining constant tine spacing during use. PA0 g) To provide a harvester that is lightweight, durable, inexpensive to manufacture, and can be effectively used by hand without the need for expensive auxiliary equipment.